Teacher Quality News: Week of May 4

The National Center for Education Statistics has a new report finding that just 17% of new teachers left the field after five years. Based on a nationally representative sample of about 2,000 new teachers who began teaching in 2007 or 2008, the analysis also says that teachers who started their careers earning more than $40,000 were more likely to be teaching five years later than teachers who had lower beginning salaries. Even bearing the recession in mind, this paints quite a different picture than the oft-quoted saw about 50 percent of teachers leaving in their first five years.

Writing in Education Week, Katharine B. Stevens of the American Enterprise Institute calls for “creating innovative, well-designed new pathways” for early education teachers. Pointing to the “dysfunctional (K-12) teacher-preparation industry,” she argues early childhood education is “starting with a clean and unencumbered slate.”

District Matters

Closing poor performing schools doesn’t academically hurt displaced students, according to a new study by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. Fordham’s Aaron Churchill told The Columbus Dispatch, “After closure, children typically end up in higher-quality schools, and they make strong academic progress.” The analysis looked at achievement trends from displaced students at almost 200 traditional and charter schools in Ohio.

San Francisco is struggling to hire 500 teachers for next fall, and Superintendent Richard Carranza wanted to fill 24 spots with Teach For America teachers. The San Francisco Chroniclereports that after a heated debate, board members who oppose Teach For America forced the superintendent to settle for 15.